HANG TIME WEST – Jimmer Fredette never had a fair start. He joined the NBA in the lockout season of 2011-12, so no summer league and a training camp on fast forward, played for two coaches as a rookie, Paul Westphal and Keith Smart, and another, Michael Malone, in his third campaign. The Kings tried to make him a point guard, then moved Fredette to shooting guard.

“I’ve been given chances at times,” he said.

The hope that shooting 51.6 percent overall and 60 percent on three-pointers in 22.1 minutes of exhibition play would finally become a prominent role has instead whiplashed into his harshest days yet: The Kings did not pick up the option on his 2014-15 contract by the Oct. 31 deadline, he has sat three of the four games and logged all of three minutes in the other and Malone is being frank that Fredette should not expect real minutes anytime soon.

This is a team breaking up with a former lottery pick in a very public way. Not keeping him under contract for next season is the Kings officially saying they don’t see a future – it’s not us, it’s you – although they can always try to re-sign Fredette in the summer as an unrestricted free agent if they see something over the next five months. Not playing him now, not playing him more than three minutes when they were desperate for any sign of life against the Warriors, is Sacramento saying it doesn’t see a present.

The question is whether he finishes the season with the Kings or is dealt to allow the new administration to recoup something, anything, from the initial investment. There is no automatic answer – decent offers don’t exactly roll in for players who can’t get off the bench for lottery teams, it sometimes makes more sense for management to let players walk for nothing rather than take on an unwanted contract in trade, and there was skepticism in some front offices long before this whether his star turn at BYU would translate to the pros. Meanwhile, there is also Marcus Thornton and Ben McLemore ahead of Fredette at shooting guard and Greivis Vasquez and Isaiah Thomas at point guard.

As Malone said when asked if any minutes are left for Fredette: “Right now, no. I think it’s impossible to play three point guards, it’s impossible to play three two-guards. The decision, which was a tough decision that I made, is to start Greivis, bring Isaiah off the bench, to start Marcus and to bring Ben off the bench. My challenge to Jimmer is, ‘I know this isn’t the news that you wanted. You did some good things for us in the preseason, but you’re a pro and I need you to stay ready because anything can happen.’ There’ll be games, like we did last game, we played a lot of small ball. We had Isaiah and Greivis out there together. Right now, he’s not in the rotation. But as we all know, in this business, anything can happen on a given night and he may be forced into minutes. I know he’ll be ready, willing and able to contribute at a high level.”

Fredette said he didn’t know what to expect with the contract, and that is possible even after years of strong hints he has a limited future in Sacramento. Maybe a fresh regime, from owner to general manager to coach, meant a fresh start? The Kings got McLemore in the draft – hint, hint – but Jimmer’s exhibition play had to encourage the new bosses enough?

No. And no.

“It’s just something that they made a business decision that they thought was best for their team, and the best that I can do is to keep working hard and not focus on it, just make sure you’re doing the best with your time and know that your career’s not over,” Fredette said. “You’ve just got to keep playing and keep working hard to get where you’re supposed to be.

“It’s tough at times to not play. As a competitor, you want to be out there. It’s always tough to watch others play and know you’ve put in the time, you’ve put in work. But at the same time, you have to support them. You’re a teammate and you have to be the best teammate you can be and go out and continue to better and hopefully you get an opportunity. And when you do get the opportunity, you’ve got to take advantage of it.”

He said his confidence is not shaken after the last week, not to mention the last years. “Not even a little bit.” But this isn’t even Fredette at a crossroads with the Kings any more and needing to make something good happen. This is Fredette unable to get on the court and out of the long-term plans. This is Fredette, who never had a fair start, coming to the end in Sacramento.

56 Comments

You know, Jimmer can play. He has a very developed jump shot and he can create his own shot. His handle is good, too. He’s not Stever Kerr. He does have a hard time finishing at the rim, but kick it out to him at the line and he is money.
The King’s should dump him or D League him, he should get some game time.

First of all the Kings have one of the best coaching staffs in the league so I don’t know what some people are talking about. Second of all Jimmer deserves a second chance in the NBA just not Sacramento. I would love to keep him here to watch him develop, but to be realistic we have no room for another guard on this team. We have some much young talent already we can afford to send Jimmer off to another team that utilizes his abilities. I wish Jimmer and Whitney the best of luck in the future!! -Loyal Kings fan

Too much over-coaching going on in the NBA! Why would any player want to go to Utah anyway. The jazz do not use their talent properly, they are good at weaving (X&Os) but we do not see much continuity in their draft choice. The better coaches would always modify their system to accommodate great potential and the Jazz is not the best team in this area. They already have too many guards hogging the ball. Maybe Jimmer should be patient and wait for a coach who knows how to utilize his skill sets.

have high hopes for this kid..hope he can get out from sac and traded to a golden state warriors kind of team where shooting skills are just awesome..he will be a star in the future and he can prove it as long as a smart coach can use his talent..im not a sac fan..i hate cousins and those big egos in the team..but i like this kid..all the best for him..goodluck jimmer! you can do it!

1. His defense is horrible
2. The backup PG Isaiah Thomas has been the 1st-3rd best player on the team this season
3. He can’t make plays. He’s only good for chucking up shots, and the Kings already have expensive Marcus Thronton for that

jimmer is not athletic enough. 6’2 for a point guard and not athletic and doesnt distribute well enough. 6’2 at shooting guard is quite small for success unless you’re an allen iverson or if he was even as good of a scorer as eric bledsoe. jimmer is getting what he deserves. bottom line. he’s had fair chance. before grevis and mclemore arrived.

Leonard, it takes skill players longer in general to adjust to the NBA game. IT is a great player and very athletic, it didn’t take him long at all to adjust and he was also asked to play his position. Jimmer showed improvement every year and in pre-season had the best numbers of all players on the kings roster. Ben McLemore is the real deal and the future there in Sacramento, but Jimmer is really good and could easily take Thorntons minutes or IT’s. Nonetheless there is some redundancy on that team, and Jimmer would do better on a team that doesn’t duplicate his role. Also with the guards in Sacramento being so bad at defense in general there is no complimentary piece to play Jimmer alongside. Jimmer besides Rondo for example would be lights out phenomenal.

Sacramento is a mess, Them not picking up another year on his contract might be the best thing that happened Jimmer so far in the nba.

I hoped cousins had changed his attitude he looked so good and dominant in the first 2 games, but no he is playing horrible D, taking bad shots and whining at every call the refs make, man sacramento will be in the lottery this year aswell.

If you go back and look at ALL the box scores of the games they have played this year, THEY WIN more often when Jimmer is playing major minutes and they LOSE more often when he is not.
Don’t just believe me, go to the NBA SAC web site and go through the box scores like I did and you will see for your self. The major problem with the Kings is, they are loaded with semi talented players who are selfish and greedy, and will not play with Jimmer, probably because they do not want him to prove to everyone (which he most definitely would) that he is truly better than those he subs in for.

Honestly, I don’t understand Sacramento at all. They invested quite a bit in this pick and then never game him a shot, despite his doing everything to show he deserves a real shot. The whole Jimmer situation just compounds how stupid Sacramento has already looked.

I agree, Jimmer got put in with a bunch of “egos” that didn’t want to share the ball (Evans, Cousins to name a few). He never really got a good chance, the one he needs in order to flourish. I don’t think Jimmer is “Great” per se, but I do think he is better than what Sac-town offered him. At a minimum I think he could become a Kyle Korver type player, sharp shooting with minimal defensive abilities.

As a King’s fan im disappointed we didn’t give him any playing time. Every time he did play more than 20mins a game my god the kid just erupts with talent. I hope he goes to a different team where his talent will actually be used. I will always be a Jimmer fan even if he doesn’t play for my Kings

I’m a Kings fan and I honestly feel really bad for Jimmer. I think on a contender he would be money! But not on this rebuilding squad in Sac-Town. Not to say Jimmer is perfect because he does have his struggles with playing defense but then again so did Steve Nash.

I say trade Jimmer, Jason Thompson, and Lub Mbah a Moute to Toronto Raptors for DeMar DeRozan, Aaron Gray, and Quincy Acy. It works on ESPN Trade Machine!

this wudnt make since for the raptors tho
Demar is their “best guy” on team and they are happy with amir, psycho T, jonas etc up front at the moment
also they hv a variety of wing players already
T-ross being the number one guard off the bench i dont think theres a need for jimmer

With Thornton and McLemore in Sac=Town, no way Derozen will be happy there with a load backcourt. So that would be a good trade at all. Kings would have to give up Thornton or MeLemore to make that trade make sense.

@Just ball True Demar is the best player on that team but his skillset is the same as Gay’s and it would be much harder to try and move Gay’s contract. Having the same slashing skills isn’t really beneficial so they could move DeRozan. Amir Johson and Pyscho T are good role players but neither of them are taller than 6’10 while Jason Thompson is 6’11 so he could be the backup Center for Jonas. T-Ross deserves starting minutes and Fields was a good player NY so he can be the number one guard of the bench. I heard the Raptors were trying to trade for Steve Nash so why not just get a younger version in Jimmer Fredette. Plus Jimmer’s shooting skills complement Gay’s slashing skills and Jimmer is better than DJ. And Mbah a Moute plays defense unlike Steve Novak

As a Toronto fan who lives here. were not trading DeMar or Rudy . Rudy can match LBJ at the 3 or 4 at 6’8 and melo exact same height and weight. point being Rudy is better then most teams SF and he actually challenges good players at that position so we are happy with him. DeMar is 5th in points at SG last year and is averging more this year. we dont even want Ben a rookie at that position which is the hardest position to guard in the NBA. we like High flyers IE VInCE CARter. so it will never happen. Even if the trade were to go down that first post is a insane comment because of the sad offer that makes no sense lol the offer plus lack of knowledge to know it wont work Financially. we want no one you offered. even if we did , you have to match the salary DeMar 10 mill, Grey 2 mill, Acy 1 mill …. offer something worth 13 mill. Cousins prob has your biggest contract so you would lose him n we still wouldnt do it,.Jimmer is better then DJ Augustine that would work contracts expire for both after this year . Utah deserves him tho , they have always had Amazing point guards its in there DNA i would like to see them doing better. Jimmers not top tier but is another option. they should go after Rondo in the summer or at trade deadline. good luck to all the other teams this year

Jimmer not good for NBA standards, he gotta get alot more athletic, his shooting aint that good as he could either cause every 2 gaurd is faster bigger stronger than him and he can be shut down easily.

I don’t know why people can’t accept the reality that Jimmer was a great college player whose game doesn’t translate to the professional ranks. Whining about him not getting a chance isn’t relevant at this level; you should good enough for your talents to place a demand upon the coach to get you out on the floor. As for the strike-shortened season, coaching changes, etc., once again, it’s up to each player to train and position himself to secure playing time. This isn’t high school, it’s the NBA.

I agree. After the tourney run, everyone was going bonkers over Jimmer. His game just isn’t suited for the NBA. BYU was also lucky in not playing any backcourts from the ACC or Big East during that time. In my opinion, Davies had more of a pro game than Jimmer.

He’s an elite shooter. He belongs in the NBA. Chances in the NBA are hard to come by. The right player in the right system can emerge as a steady complementary player, or even a star. That same player in the wrong situation can end up out of the league. I’m not saying Jimmer deserves a chance any more than the next guy, but if he gets one in the right situation, he’ll probably become a successful player.

I’m sorry, he’s just not an elite shooter. Maybe in college he was, but against pros he certainly is not. Show me some pro stats to prove me wrong otherwise I agree with Brian, some players are just not suited for the pro game. He is a slow, undersized PG who doesn’t really do anything exceptionally well. Doesn’t see the floor well. Doesn’t distribute nearly as well as isaih thomas. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him finish around the basket. He allows himself to get bullied by the defense. I just don’t get the hype he gets.

He’s like a CJ mccollum who can’t create his own shot. Dude would never last in the NBA if he didn’t have that skill either. Doesn’t matter if he’s a ‘knock down shooter’ you’ve got to be able to get good looks to knock down shots.